The astrochemical factory: A solid base for interstellar reactions

In this thesis chemical and physical processes in the ice mantles on interstellar dust grains are studied. With the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array molecules of interest to the formation of bigger, life-bearing molecules are detected for the first time around the sun-like low-mass protostar IRAS 16293-2422. These detections give clues about the earliest conditions our solar system formed under and potentially how life on earth emerged. Laboratory studies investigate the formation of these complex species in a laboratory set-up mimicking the conditions on interstellar icy dust grains. In this ways formation routes for molecules with a so-called amide functional group are mapped.